I had to begin this entry with some Russian words to my Russian readers.
Why? Because this story might not seem very nice for them. Maybe some might
think that I don’t like the Russian language. This was true many years ago.
Now, I do love the Russian language. In my opinion it’s beautiful. Why am I
writing an entry about the Russian language in my blog? Using this story, I
would like to explain how bad methods and exercise books can cause trouble for
students.

I grew up
in communism. When I spent some months in the States, I got several questions
about it. Many people in the world learned about communism only through
schoolbooks. To meet someone who lived in communism was an extraordinary
experience for the people I met in the States. I got several questions from
these people and I loved to answer them.

During
communism, students in elementary schools, high schools, colleges, and
universities were forced to learn Russian. I’m convinced that the main problem
wasn’t the fact that we had to learn Russian; the greatest problems were
actually created by the awkward books and their topics. Who is really
interested in the life of Lenin
– communist leader during the Great October Socialist Revolution of Russia in
1917 – or the Worldwide Victory of Communism? I
clearly remember one sentence from these books: “The budget spent on the military of the United States of America would be
enough to overcome world poverty”. Yeah, this statement might be true, but
why didn't the author mention the Soviet Union's
budget spent on non-military uses and the Warsaw Pact. In our books, there were
only a few words written about the people of Russia or their lives.

I graduated
from high school in 1986. Then I had an adventurous period in my life which is
not relevant here, and so I began college two years later. It was so funny
because some guys who I had helped in high school were one year behind me and
then, in college, they got one year ahead of me and helped me out in return.

On the very
first day of the first semester in the college in 1988, we had our first
Russian class. Before forming smaller groups, the leader teacher of the
language department gave all new students a short presentation about the
requirements, targets and so forth. At the end of her speech, she asked if
there was anyone who graduated from high school two years or more ago. There
were only two guys, including me. She turned to me and said, “Having been accepted into college, you’ve
refreshed yourself in your knowledge of Russian, haven’t you?” I was
surprised. What? Is it serious? I began to ask myself if this was a college of
finance or a college
of Russian language. I
answered, “Sorry, after I got accepted I
still had to work and I left my office just two days ago. I had no time to
refresh myself in anything.” She began to yell at me. “What were you thinking? You’d better to leave this college at once
because I’m sure you can’t meet our high requirements.” I replied, “I didn't take the entrance exam for this college
just so I would be kicked out on the first day because of my so called lack of
knowledge in Russian.” Luckily I wasn’t put into her group. My teacher was
from Russia
and was married to a Hungarian guy. We had to work a lot because she was very,
very, very strict, but I didn’t feel I was at any disadvantage due to my two
year break in my Russian studies. I wasn’t among the best, but I knew enough to
get B or B+.

The topics
in the book still remained awkward: ‘Council for Mutual Economic Assistance’
(economic organization of communist countries) or ‘Advantages of Communist Economic Policy’ (Why? Did it have any?).
Our Russian teachers tried to make their lectures more interesting, but we
really couldn't become interested. We gave equal importance to the Russian
language and the communist regime. That’s why when I passed the final exam in
Russian at the end of the second semester, it was a great relief. I got a B.
Hurray! “Russian language, never more!”
we shouted, putting our exercise books in a great fire in the backyard of our
students’ hostel. We had permission to use a camp fire for the purpose of
cooking, but probably not for the burning of our Russian books.

The story
didn’t end at this point. Not much later, communism failed and a new era began
in my country. Once I met Russian tourists and, at that point, I realized that
I understood everything they said. My teacher was very effective. I found out
that the Russian language is very nice and it is not the language of the
communism, but the language of a great and proud nation. I began to learn
Russian again because I wanted to, not because I was forced to do so. I had
great teachers and they gave me interesting activities, such as reading a news
article about the internet in Russian. It was the first time I saw the word
internet in my life (in 1994). There was a period when my Russian was better
than my English. I still like and understand Russian, but unfortunately I
forgot a lot. Maybe one day I can refresh myself in Russian, but now I will concentrate
on English.

Gardeniafly
was kind to review my entry again. She is not searching new students anymore. But I can recommend someone else, or you can visit Italki.

Sometimes,
having a bad experience when learning a language can discourage a person from
continuing that language. It's important that, if you do have a bad experience,
you try to separate this experience from the language itself. Just because you
have one bad experience, doesn't mean that you'll continue having bad
experiences in this language. If any reader of this blog has had a negative
experience in learning English, please feel free to contact me on italki and
I'll try to convince you that English is actually fun!

I also
would like to thank Evgeniya
for reviewing the Russian sentences. Большое спасибо!

7 comments:

I would like to write my comment in English but it is too difficult for me. I can read, but to write or speak is a problem for me. Why? Because of the same reason - very bad language education in soviet schools. So, in Russian:

Translation:Yes, I can understand you very well. I learned the language at Soviet school, when the situation was slightly different. The English language was referred to as a "language of the enemy". There weren't teachers whose native language was English, from the US or UK, just because there couldn't be. All teachers at Soviet schools were Soviet institutions graduates. They had never been abroad and had never heard the true, live language. English newspapers were also prohibited to read (iron curtain, you know...) so we learned the language using local newspapers (e.g. "Moscow news") and text books, which contained the same your Russian text books contained. Of course, we didn't know and we couldn't know anything about the life in the USA, about the American or British culture, their movies and music. Can you learn a foreign language separately from the culture of the country? I don't think so. No wonder, almost no one in Russia could speak English. Neither did they wanted to speak. Also very few people could read in English. Now the situation is slowly changing. Sometimes students who learn English online and talk to their partners and friends abroad via Skype, manage to know English better than their uni teachers. Many profs still use only dictionaries and reference books issued in 60s for their vocabulary. Sometimes these "teachers" only hinder the process of learning by getting obsolete phrases and rules into the heads of their students. Only when I started to learn the language on my own, I understood that it is easy and nice, to learn a language, to immerse into the culture of a foreign nation, without compulsion, without political propahanda and hostility. It is quite a different method, which provides fantastic result!

----Translator's notes:The "enemy language" was actually German, not English. Because during the WW2 years the whole Russian nation took Germans as the eternal enemy, because during the period thousands and thousands of people started learning German to become military translators, but then, when the war was over, they were all suddenly dismissed and had to look for new, civilian fields to apply their language knowlege. So they became numerous teachers of German at schools, which was also inspired by the newly-born German Democratic Republic, which had very tight relationship with the USSR in terms of trade, economy, politics, etc. We had also French and English at schools. School administration decided which language to teach to the students. As for English, yes, we didn't have many authentic stuff. Books, media, text books and other things, they all were quite rare, compared to those for the German language. But we did have the disks and then tapes of John Lennon, Louis Armstrong and other singers and bands, we did have the books and other stuff. They were hard to find but they were here. I, myself, have also been learning English by myself, after a false-start with English at a uni and 10-years studying of German at school. I had English at university, but as I graduated I forgot it immediately and I hardly could understand English writing, let alone to write myself or speak in English. I couldn't understand spoken the language, movies and songs. That's why I call it a false-start. When I came to a decision to learn English I started to learn it online, with the help of my American friends and online sources.And yes, I can also say that learning a language can be fun! It actually is~!

Thanks for the comments. I summarize briefly: In the Soviet Union the teaching of languages wasn't good. Is it possible to learn the language of any nation apart from his culture? He/she thinks not. The situation is changing because of internet (Skype). But old teachers teach outdated, old expressions. After beginning to learn by him/herself he/she realized how fun the language learning can be. This is a completely different approach , which gives fantastic results !